Systems and method for dynamic insertion of advertisements

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described to detect a location to place an advertisement in a media asset, the method comprising, identifying a plurality of points in a video frame of a media asset, detecting a color associated with each point of the plurality of points, calculating a change in color between each point of the plurality of points, comparing the change in color between each point of the plurality of points with a threshold, identifying, based on the comparing, an area within the frame that constitutes a surface; and selecting an advertisement to be placed on the surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An amount of content consumed by viewers has grown exponentially and sohave advertisement opportunities. Traditionally, advertisements havebeen inserted between segments of programs. However, in many situationsthat is not an optimal approach because viewers are able to change thechannel or leave the room in order to avoid viewing the advertisement.Current systems have solved this problem by enabling users to markspaces (e.g., surfaces) in video frames where advertisements can beinserted later on, thereby solving the problem of users changingchannels or leaving the room. However, this process is very timeconsuming and inefficient because programs have hundreds of thousands offrames. For example, a two-hour movie can have 144,000 frames. Even ifit takes a minute to mark up a frame, or even two frames, the time andeffort to perform the mark-up is almost prohibitive.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, systems and methods are provided herein for dynamicallyidentifying surface(s) in a video frame suitable for insertingadvertisements. For example, a media guidance application associatedwith a user device (e.g., a set-top box) may be configured to detect anocean surface in a scene of the movie “Titanic” and may be furtherprogrammed to insert an advertisement on the ocean surface while theuser is consuming that media asset.

The described method of dynamically inserting advertisements into framesof a media asset may detect a surface in the media asset where anadvertisement may be inserted. The detection of the surface enables amedia guidance application to insert an advertisement in a location thatdoes not interfere with the content of the scene or diminish the viewingexperience of the user in any way.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may identify a location(e.g., a surface) to place an advertisement in a media asset. The mediaguidance application may select a first plurality of points in a videoframe of a media asset. For example, the media guidance application maydivide a frame from the movie “Titanic” that is about to be displayedinto a plurality of regions based on a predetermined algorithm. Eachregion may be a square that is adjacent to other regions (other squares)that make up the area of the frame. The media guidance application mayidentify one or more points that may be inside of each region (e.g.,each square) or the points may be at the intersections of the lines thatmake up each square.

The media guidance application may detect a color associated with eachpoint of the first plurality of points. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that a first point from a portion of the frameto be displayed may be “blue” in color and a second point in the framemay be “black” in color. The color of the points may depend on theobjects on the screen that the point may be associated with. Forexample, various parts of the ship “Titanic” may have different colors(e.g., white, yellow, and other suitable colors, while the water, ifdepicted in the frame, may be blue or a shade of blue).

The various parts of the ship “Titanic” in the video frame may havedifferent colors (e.g., white, yellow, black, and other suitablecolors), while the water may be blue or a shade of blue. The ship mayhave various parts that have different colors. For example, the hull ofthe ship may be black in color, while the chimney stacks may be yellowand the deck of the ship may be white. The smoke emerging from thechimney stacks may be a shade of gray. The background of the video frameis sky, that may be blue (during the day), black (during the night), ordifferent shades of orange and yellow (during the dawn and dusk). Theclouds in the sky may be colored accordingly. Thus, the pointsassociated with the various objects of the video frame 102, may be ofdifferent colors.

The media guidance application may process each point on the frame todetermine color and surface corresponding to each point. The mediaguidance application may begin the iteration process by selecting afirst point in the first plurality of points. The selection of the pointmay be based on the iteration process. For example, the media guidanceapplication may start the iteration with a top-right corner and proceedin a clockwise direction. It should be noted that different startingpoints may be used in this process.

The media guidance application may calculate a distance between thefirst point and other points in the first plurality of points. Forexample, the media guidance application may select a first point in aframe of a movie “Titanic” that depicts the ocean as part of the frame”.Other points in the first plurality of points may include pointsdirectly connected to the first point, or at a certain distance from thefirst point.

The media guidance application may select a second plurality of pointsfrom the other points in the first plurality of points, where the secondplurality of points include points within a threshold distance of thefirst point. For example, within the first plurality of points, themedia guidance application may determine points that are within apredetermined threshold distance from the first point. In some examples,the distance may be measured in terms of the number of points betweenthe first point and a second point. Based on the calculation of distanceof each point in the first plurality of points from the first point, themedia guidance application may determine a second plurality of pointsthat are within the predetermined threshold distance from the firstpoint.

The media guidance application may calculate a change in color betweenthe different selected points. Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may calculate a change in color between the first point andeach point of the set second plurality of points. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the first point in the videoframe is “blue” in color and that other points in the set of the secondplurality of points have a color that is a shade of “blue.”

Similarly, the media guidance application may determine that points inthe second plurality of points that are within a threshold distance fromthe first point may be of “blue”, “black”, or other colors that are apart of the video frame. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may represent colors using predefined encoding mechanisms,like the RGB encoding where each value of the red, blue, and green colorranges from 0 to 255. The media guidance application may calculate achange in color of the points in the second plurality of points from thefirst point.

The media guidance application may calculate a change in color based onthe values of the encoded color. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a change in color by computing a difference inthe encoded color values.

The media guidance application may group together the points that arewithin a predetermined threshold color change. Particularly, the mediaguidance application may generate, based on the comparing, a subset ofpoints that are within the threshold color change. For example, themedia guidance application may group points in the second plurality ofpoints based on the computed color difference between a plurality ofpoints. When the computed difference in the color of the points is lessthan a predetermined threshold, the point is grouped along with thefirst point. For example, if the surface being processed is an ocean(e.g., water), the media guidance application may group all pointstogether that constitute a surface of the ocean.

The media guidance application may generate a data structure of asurface using the grouped points. Particularly, the media guidanceapplication may generate, based on the subset of points, a datastructure representing a surface. For example, the media guidanceapplication may associate the grouped together points in the secondplurality of points to represent a surface.

The media guidance application may select an advertisement to be placedon the identified surface. Particularly, the media guidance applicationmay select, based on the data structure representing the surface, anadvertisement of a plurality of advertisements for display with thevideo frame. For example, the media guidance application may determine,from a set of advertisements, the most suitable advertisement to beplaced on the determined surface. For example, if the surface is water(e.g., an ocean), the media guidance application may select a ship andstore the ship in memory with an advertisement to be placed on theship's hull.

The media guidance application may generate the selected advertisementfor display. Particularly, the media guidance application may generatefor display the advertisement so that it appears on the surface. Forexample, the media guidance application may display the selectedadvertisement on an ocean surface determined in a video frame of themovie “Titanic” by the media guidance application, when the particularframe is displayed on the screen of the user device. For example, themedia guidance application may generate for display the ship with theadvertisement on the ship's hull.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may select anappropriate advertisement for the surface by determining a typeassociated with the surface. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a type associated with the surface. Forexample, the type of the surface may be an object in the video framelike “ocean”, “wall”, “ship”, or “sky”.

The media guidance application may compare the type associated with thesurface with metadata associated with each advertisement of theplurality of advertisements. For example, the media guidance applicationmay compare the determined type of surface with metadata associated withadvertisements in the set of advertisements.

The media guidance application may retrieve an advertisement based onthe type of surface. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the type associated with the surface in a frame is “abody of water” or “ocean”. The media guidance application may searchthrough the metadata of the available advertisements and select anadvertisement that has some relation to the “ocean” or “water”. Someexamples of advertisements relating to water may be advertisements thatcontain a water vehicle (e.g., a yacht, jet-ski, boat, ship or anothersuitable advertisement). Additionally or alternatively, theadvertisement may be for an activity relating to water like scuba-divingor snorkeling, etc.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine anobject associated with the type of surface before inserting theadvertisement. For example, as described above, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the object of “water” may be associatedwith an “ocean” object in a video frame of the movie “Titanic”. Inanother example, the media guidance application may determine that thesky may be associated with particular colors (e.g., light colors duringday time and dark colors during night time).

The media guidance application may modify the video object to includethe determined advertisement on the video object. In some embodiments,if an advertisement is to be displayed on the ocean surface, the mediaguidance application may modify the data structure associated with thesurface to include the advertisement. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, the object modified withthe advertisement on the user display device.

The media guidance application may detect a type of the surface bydetecting a color associated with the surface. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may retrieve a color range associated withthe surface. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat the color of the surface may range from a dark blue to navy blue,based on different values of encoded color.

The media guidance application may compare the color range with colorranges for known surfaces, and may determine, based on comparing thecolor range with the color ranges for known surfaces, the type thatmatches the color range. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the detected color range of a dark blue to a navy bluecorresponds to colors associated with a water body.

The media guidance application determines a type of the surface bydetermining a shape associated with the surface. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may detect a shape associated with thesurface. For example, the shapes associated with a surface may be, a“plane”, a “circle”, a “rectangle”, and others.

The media guidance application may compare the shape with shapes forknown surfaces and may determine, based on comparing the shape with theshapes for known surfaces, the type that matches the shape. For example,the media guidance application may determine that the detected surfaceis associated with the shape of water waves, and therefore, the surfaceis an ocean in a frame of the movie “Titanic”.

The media guidance application may divide the video into regions basedon a resolution of the video. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may detect a resolution of the video frame and may selectthe first plurality of points based on the resolution of the videoframe. For example, the media guidance application may determine aresolution of the screen in order to determine the number of regions thescreen may be divided into. In some examples, a greater number ofregions that the screen may be divided into may lead to a greater numberof points for analysis.

The media guidance application may calculate a change in color betweenvarious points associated with the first point. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may retrieve a first plurality of colorvalues for a plurality of color components for the first point. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine the value ofvarious color components associated with the first point. The mediaguidance application may determine the values for the red, green, andblue components of the colors for the first point.

The media guidance application may retrieve a second plurality of colorvalues for a second plurality of color components for a second point,where the second point is in the second plurality of points. Forexample, similar to the first point, the media guidance application maydetermine the value of various color components associated with a secondpoint. The media guidance application may determine the values for thered, green, and blue components of the colors for the second point. Thesecond point may be within a predetermined threshold distance from thefirst point.

The media guidance application may compare each value in the firstplurality of values representing a color of the first point with acorresponding value in the second plurality of values and may determine,based on comparing each value in the first plurality of valuesrepresenting the color of the first point with the corresponding valuein the second plurality of values, a difference between each colorcomponent and may store the difference between each color component.

For example, the media guidance application may compare the determinedcolor components of a first point and the determined color components ofthe second point by comparing each color component individually. In someexamples, the media guidance application may compare the red, blue, andgreen values of the first point and the second point. The media guidanceapplication may store the difference in the color components of thefirst and the second points.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may comparecoordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset of pointswith coordinates of other points with the subset of points. For example,the media guidance application may determine a first coordinate of thefirst point and compare the first coordinate with coordinates of the setof points that constitute a surface.

The media guidance application, based on comparing the coordinates, maydetermine edges of the surface and store coordinates of the edges in thedata structure. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine the coordinates of the points that constitute the edges of thesurface and store the coordinate of the edges.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve aplurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent to thevideo frame. For example, the media guidance application may processframes of a movie “Titanic” subsequent to the current frames that areabout to be displayed on the user device.

The media guidance application may compare colors associated withcoordinates of the edges in the data structure with colors associatedwith corresponding cording within each frame of the plurality of frames.For example, the media guidance application may extract colors of thepreviously determined edges of the surface in the frames subsequent tothe frame being displayed on the user device. In such examples, themedia guidance application may also determine colors of other points ofthe surface in frames subsequent to the frames being displayed on theuser device.

The media guidance application may determine, for each frame of theplurality of frames and based on comparing the colors associated withcoordinates of the edges in the data structure with the colorsassociated with corresponding cording within each frame of the pluralityof frames, whether the colors associated with each coordinate of theedges in the data structure match the colors associated with arespective coordinate associated with the video frame.

The media guidance application may add the advertisement to those frameswhere the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges in thedata structure match the colors associated with a respective coordinateassociated with the video frame.

The media guidance application may refrain from adding the advertisementto those frames where the colors associated with each coordinate of theedges in the data structure does not match the colors associated with arespective coordinate associated with the video frame.

For example, the media guidance application may determine points thatconstitute edges of a surface and points that constitute the center of asurface. The media guidance application may determine whether the colorof the points at the center changes from the color of the points at theedges for more than a predetermined threshold.

The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to thevideo frame being displayed on the user device, to determine for howlong the color on the edges of the detected surface of “water” in theframes matches the color of the points in the center of the surface of“water”. The media guidance application may determine how long the coloron the edges of the detected surface is similar to the color of thepoints in the center by determining a number of frames for which thedifference in color stays below a predetermined threshold. In someexamples, the media guidance application may determine that a differencein color may be below a threshold difference for 50 frames which isgreater than a predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upon determiningthat the color difference between the points at the center and thepoints at the edges is below a predetermined threshold of difference fora predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the selectedadvertisement is inserted on that surface of the “water” in frames ofthe movie “Titanic”. In case the color difference is not below aparticular threshold for the particular predetermined threshold of time(25 frames), the advertisement is not inserted on the surface as thatmay interrupt content important for the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of identifying a surface in a videoframe of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for dynamicallyinserting advertisements in a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process fordynamically inserting advertisements in a media asset, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining atype of surface in a video frame of a media asset and displaying anadvertisement based on the determined type of surface, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether to add advertisements to video frames of a media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for dynamically identifying asurface in a video frame suitable for inserting advertisements. Forexample, a media guidance application associated with a user device(e.g., a set-top box) may be configured to detect an ocean surface in ascene of a movie and may be further configured to insert anadvertisement on the ocean surface while the user is consuming thatmedia asset.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of identifying a surface in a videoframe of a media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. FIG. 1 contains a depiction of a video frame 102. Videoframe 104 is a first exemplary depiction where the media guidanceapplication has identified a surface 106 for an advertisement in videoframe of the movie “Titanic”. Video frame 108 is a second exemplarydepiction of an identified surface 110 to insert an advertisement in thevideo frame 108. The number of surfaces depicted in video frames 104 and108 are for exemplary purposes only. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may identify multiple surfaces for advertisementsin a video frame (e.g., video frame 102).

In order to determine a suitable surface in a video frame of a mediaasset for advertisement placement, the media guidance application mayselect a first plurality of points in a video frame 102 of a mediaasset. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may dividevideo frame 102, that is about to be displayed into a plurality ofregions based on a predetermined algorithm. In some embodiments, thepredetermined algorithm may require the media guidance application todivide video frame 102 into squares of multiple regions where eachregion may be a square that is adjacent to other regions (e.g., othersquares) that make up the area of the frame. The media guidanceapplication may identify, to be included in the plurality of points, oneor more points that may be inside of each region (e.g., each square) orthe points may be at the intersections of the lines that make up eachsquare. For example, in the case that a square in video frame 102 issurrounded by squares on all four sides, all four points of the square,where the surrounding squares intersect the selected square, areselected. Similarly, if the square in video frame 102 is surrounded bysquares only on two sides, only two or three points, where thesurrounding squares intersect the selected square interact, areselected.

In some embodiments, the predetermined algorithm may require the mediaguidance application to divide frame 102 into regions of concentriccircles where the radius of each circle is progressively larger. Themedia guidance application may identify one or more points that may bewithin the perimeter of some of the concentric circles or points thatmay be on the perimeter of some of the concentric circles to be thefirst plurality of points.

In some embodiments, the predetermined algorithm that divides videoframe 102 into multiple regions may factor in at least one of aresolution of the media asset and a resolution of the user device themedia asset is being consumed on. The media guidance application maydetect a resolution of the video frame and may select the firstplurality of points based on the resolution of the video frame.

For example, the number of square or circular regions that video frame102 may be divided in may depend on the resolution of the media assetand the resolution of the user device. In some examples, a higherresolution denotes a higher number of regions that video frame 102 maybe divided into which will provide more points for analyzing the videoframe.

The predetermined algorithms described herein are for exemplary purposesonly. The media guidance application may contain other predeterminedalgorithms that divide the frame 102 into regions in different patternsand select points of the frame for detecting a surface to place anadvertisement.

The media guidance application may process the first plurality of pointsdetected in video frame 102. The media guidance application may detect acolor associated with each point of the first plurality of points. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that a firstpoint, from a portion of video frame 102 to be displayed, may be “blue”in color and a second point in video frame 102 may be “black” in color.The color of the points may depend on the objects on the screen that thepoint may be associated with. The media guidance application mayretrieve from memory color values associated with the first plurality ofpoints.

The media guidance application may determine the colors of the firstplurality of points using a predetermined color encoding scheme. Anexample of a color encoding scheme is the “RGB” scheme where colorinformation relating to each pixel in video frame 102 may be stored asthree-color components, Red, Green, and Blue. The red, green, and bluecolor components are added together in various ways to reproducedifferent colors. In this scheme, the colors are represented in the formof the intensities of the red, blue, and green lights that compose thecolor. The values of the intensities of the red, green, and blue, arerepresented as a value between 0 and 255 respectively. For example, thecolor orange may be represented as 255 160 0.

Another example of a color encoding scheme is the CMYK color model. TheCMYK color model is a subtractive color model using cyan, magenta,yellow and key (black). Colors represented by this encoding scheme arerepresented by percentage of cyan, magenta, yellow and black in them.For example, the color orange in the CMYK scheme may be represented asCMYK (0%, 35%, 100%, 0%). Based on the encoding, the color value of eachvalue of the first plurality of values may be determined and stored inmemory by the media guidance application.

The media guidance application may iterate through each point in thefirst plurality of points of video frame 102 to determine positionalinformation related to each point in the first plurality of points.Contextual information may include, color, type of surface, and durationthat the color and type of surface stay constant for the point. Themedia guidance application may begin the iteration process by selectinga first point in the first plurality of points. The selection of thepoint may be based on the iteration process. For example, the mediaguidance application may start the iteration with a top-right corner andproceed in a clockwise direction. It should be noted that differentstarting points may be used in this process. In some embodiments, theselection of the first point in the first plurality of points may bedependent on the shapes that video frame 102 is divided in. For example,if video frame 102 is divided in concentric circles, the media guidanceapplication may select the first point in the plurality of points to bethe point closest to the common center of video frame 102 and theconcentric circles.

The media guidance application may calculate a distance between thefirst point and other points in the first plurality of points. Forexample, the media guidance application may select a first point invideo frame 102 where the first point is part of a portion of videoframe 102 that contains an ocean. Other points in the first plurality ofpoints may include points in direct proximity to the first point or at acertain distance from the first point. For example, some points may bein direct proximity to the first point in the ocean in video frame 102and may be part of the hull of the ship close to the ocean. In someexamples, some points connected to the first point in the ocean in videoframe 102 may be part of the background sky. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may compute a distance between the firstpoint and all the other points in the first plurality of points.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compute adistance between the first point and other points in the first pluralityof points up to a certain distance from the first point. For example,the media guidance application may not compute a distance between thefirst point and any point that is more than half the horizontalresolution of the total frame (x/2) away from the first point.

Based on the distances computed between the first point and other pointsin the first plurality of points, the media guidance application mayselect a second plurality of points, where the second plurality ofpoints includes points within a predetermined threshold distance of thefirst point. For example, within the first plurality of points, themedia guidance application may determine points that are within apredetermined threshold distance from the first point.

In some examples, the distance may be measured in terms of the number ofpoints between the first point and a second point. Based on thecalculation of distance of each point in the first plurality of pointsfrom the first point, the media guidance application may determine asecond plurality of points that are within the predetermined thresholddistance from the first point. For example, the second plurality ofpoints may include points in the first plurality of points that are lessthan three points away from the first point.

In some embodiments, the threshold distance may be measured based on thesize of the frame. For example, the threshold distance may be configuredto be x/10, where x is the horizontal resolution of video frame 102. Allpoints in the first plurality of points, that are within thepredetermined threshold distance away from the first point, may beselected to be the second plurality of points.

The media guidance application may calculate a change in color betweenthe points in the second plurality of points. Specifically, the mediaguidance application may calculate a change in color between the firstpoint and each point of the second plurality of points. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the first point in videoframe 102 is “blue” (RGB: 0 0 255) in color and that other points in theset of the second plurality of points have a color that is a shade of“blue” namely “steel blue” (RGB: 70 130 180). The first point may be apoint in the water region of video frame 102. Other points in the secondplurality of points in video frame 102 may be in the water region, onthe hull of the ship, or in the background of the sky. The points in thesecond plurality of points may be within a predetermined thresholddistance from the first point.

The media guidance application may calculate a change in color betweenthe points in the second plurality of points and the first point basedon the values of the encoded color. For example, in case the colors areencoded in the RGB encoding scheme, the media guidance application maycompute a difference in the red, blue, and green values of two pointsseparately. The media guidance application, may compute a change incolor between the first point (blue color of the ocean, RGB value 0 2550) and a second point in the second plurality of points (black, of thehull, RGB value 0 0 0).

The media guidance application may group together the points that arewithin a predetermined threshold color change. Particularly, the mediaguidance application may generate, based on the comparing, a subset ofpoints that are within the threshold color change. For example, themedia guidance application may group points in the second plurality ofpoints based on the computed color difference between a plurality ofpoints. For example, if the colors are encoded in the RGB encoding, themedia guidance application may compute a difference in the red, blue,and green values of two points separately, and the difference of each ofthe red, green, and blue values may be required to be below thepredetermined threshold (e.g., red values within two percent, greenvalues with two percent, and blue values within two percent). In someembodiments, the difference of only a subset of the red, green, and bluevalues may be required to be within a predetermined threshold. Theselection of the subset of red, green, and blue may be based on thecharacteristics of the screen, or the red, green, and blue valuesthemselves. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maystore the boundary RGB values for colors that are similar to each other.For example, the different shades of turquoise may have RGB values closeto each other, and the media guidance application may only compute adifference in the green and blue components of various turquoise colorsas the turquoise shades do not have a red component. For example, afirst shade of turquoise has RGB value 0 245 255 and a second shade ofturquoise has RGB value 0 229 238. In comparison of these two shades,the media guidance application may not compare the red values.Additionally, the media guidance application may store such colors as“edge colors” for future comparisons.

When the computed difference in the color of the points is less than apredetermined threshold, the point may be grouped along with the firstpoint. The media guidance application may compute a change in color inthe values of the first point (blue color of the ocean, RGB value 0 0255), and a second point in the second plurality of points (black, ofthe hull, RGB value 0 0 0). While the red and green values of the twocolors are the same (0), there is a difference in the blue value of thefirst point and the other point. The media guidance application may setthe threshold difference of color to be 10 units. As the blue value ofthe colors differ by more than 10 units, the two points may not begrouped together. In some embodiments, a unit may correspond to a valueon the RGB scale. For example, a color with RGB value 240 40 233 has 200units of red, 40 units of green and 233 units of blue. In someembodiments, the threshold may be set based on a percentage value of thecolor change. For example, the media guidance application may configurethe threshold difference between the color of the first point from thesecond point to be only 1%.

In video frame 102, the first point may show? part of the ocean and haveblue color (RGB: 0 0 255), and the media guidance application may groupall points together that have a similar color as that of the firstpoint. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatpoints that are part of the hull (black in color, RGB 0 0 0), or pointsthat are part of the background sky (different shade of black like gray,RGB: 11 11 11), may have colors that are different from the first pointin the ocean by more than a predetermined threshold (10 units).

Therefore, the media guidance application may group the first point withpoints of the ocean that are within a predetermined color threshold (10)of the first point, based on the difference in color computed betweenthe first point and other points in the second plurality of points.

The media guidance application may generate a data structure of asurface using the grouped points. Particularly, the media guidanceapplication may generate, based on the subset of points, a datastructure representing a surface. For example, the media guidanceapplication may associate the grouped points in the second plurality ofpoints to represent a surface. The grouped points may be stored as amultidimensional array of encoded color values, an object of a surfaceclass, or another suitable data structure. The data structure of thegrouped points may be stored in a memory associated with the mediaguidance application.

The media guidance application may select an advertisement to be placedon the surface represented by the data structure comprising the groupedpoints. Particularly, the media guidance application may select, basedon the data structure representing the surface, an advertisement of aplurality of advertisements for display with the video frame. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, from a set ofadvertisements, the most suitable advertisement to be placed on thedetermined surface. For example, if the surface is water (e.g., anocean), the media guidance application may select a ship and store theship in memory with an advertisement to be placed on the water.

In some embodiments, the process of selecting an appropriateadvertisement for the determined surface includes determining a typeassociated with the surface. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a type associated with the surface. Forexample, the type of the surface may be an object in the video framelike “ocean”, “wall”, “ship”, or “sky”.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a type ofthe surface by detecting a color associated with the surface. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve a color rangeassociated with the surface. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the color of surface 106 in video frame 104 may rangefrom a light blue to blue based on different values of encoded color.

The media guidance application may compare the color range of surface106 with color ranges for known surfaces, and may determine, based oncomparing the color range with the color ranges for known surfaces, thetype that matches the color range. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the detected color range (RGB: 0 178 238(deep sky blue)-RGB: 178 223 238 (light blue)) corresponds to colorsassociated with the sky.

The media guidance application may determine a type of the surface bydetermining a shape associated with the surface. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may detect a shape associated with thesurface. For example, the shapes associated with a surface may be, a“plane”, a “circle”, a “rectangle”, and others. The media guidanceapplication may determine a shape of a cloud in surface 106 of videoframe 104. For example, the media guidance application may have standardshapes stored in memory, where different shapes are stored usingdifferent methods. A circle may be stored using a center and a radius.In order to determine whether a certain point is part of a circle, themedia guidance application may determine if there are a threshold numberof points diametrically opposite each other in the group of points thatconstitute the surface. In case the number of points diametricallyopposite each other are above a certain predetermined threshold, themedia guidance application may determine that the surface has a circularshape.

The media guidance application may compare the shape with shapes forknown surfaces and may determine, based on comparing the shape with theshapes for known surfaces, the type that matches the shape. For example,the media guidance application may determine that the detected surfaceis associated with the shape of clouds, and therefore, surface 106 invideo frame 104 is part of a sky. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may have shapes stored in memory that constituteclouds, and the media guidance application may compare the stored shapeof clouds to the group of points constituting the surface to determinewhether the surface is a cloud.

The media guidance application may compare the type associated with thesurface with metadata associated with each advertisement of theplurality of advertisements. For example, the media guidance applicationmay compare the determined type of the surface 106 (sky) with metadataassociated with advertisements in the set of advertisements. Forexample, the type associated with the ocean in video frame 102 may bewater.

The media guidance application may retrieve an advertisement based onthe type of surface. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the type associated with surface 106 in video frame 104is “sky”. The media guidance application may search through the metadataof the available advertisements and select an advertisement that hassome relation to the “sky”. The metadata associated with advertisementsmay contain tags associated with the content of advertisements. Forexample, the metadata associated with an advertisement of a plane maycontain words like plane, sky-writer, or blimp to describeadvertisements. The media guidance application may determine that theseadvertisements are associated with the sky and may be shown on surface106 of video frame 104.

Similarly, the media guidance application may determine that surface 110in video frame 108 is the “ocean”. The media guidance application maymake this determination by comparing the color of surface 110 (“ocean”)with known color ranges and the shape of the waves with known shapes.Upon determining that surface 110 is of the type “ocean”, the mediaguidance application may search the metadata of available advertisementsfor advertisements that are most appropriate to be displayed on surface110 (“ocean”) in video frame 108. Some examples of advertisementsrelating to water may be advertisements that contain a water vehicle(e.g., a yacht, jet-ski, boat, ship or another suitable advertisement).Additionally or alternatively, the advertisement may be for an activityrelating to water (e.g., scuba-diving, snorkeling, or another suitableactivity).

The media guidance application may generate the selected advertisementfor display. Particularly, the media guidance application may generatefor display the advertisement so that it appears on the surface. Forexample, the media guidance application may display the selectedadvertisement on an ocean surface determined in a video frame 102, whenthe particular frame is displayed on the screen of the user device. Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve an advertisementfrom a set of advertisements available in memory based on the determinedtype of surface. The media guidance application overlays the retrievedadvertisement on the determined surface at the appropriate coordinates.In some embodiments, the determined surface may be part of a movingobject (e.g. car, ship, plane), and the coordinates for placing theadvertisement may be updated to match with the changing coordinates ofthe moving surface.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine anobject associated with the type of surface before inserting theadvertisement. For example, as described above, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the surface 110 (“ocean”) may beassociated with a “water” object in video frame 108.

The media guidance application may modify the video object to includethe determined advertisement on the video object. In some embodiments,if an advertisement is to be displayed on surface 110, the mediaguidance application may modify the data structure associated with thesurface to include the advertisement. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, the object modified withthe advertisement on the user display device. For example, the mediaguidance application may modify the multidimensional array or the objectof class surface to include an indication of the advertisement that isto be displayed on the surface 106 or 110 when video frame 104 or 108 isdisplayed on the user device.

The media guidance application may determine the boundaries of surfaces106 and 110 by comparing coordinates of points within surface 106 or110. For example, the media guidance application may determine a firstcoordinate of the first point and compare the first coordinate withcoordinates of the set of points that constitute a surface.

The media guidance application may, based on comparing the coordinates,determine the left most edge, the right most edge, the topmost edge andthe bottom most edge of the surface. The media guidance application maystore the determined edges of the surface, and store coordinates of theedges in the data structure. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may compare the coordinates of the various points groupedtogether to form a surface and determine the coordinate that is thelowest and highest value for each index. For example, the media guidanceapplication may compare points having coordinates (0,0), (1, 5), (5, 0),(5, 1), and determine that for the first index (e.g. x-axis), to thelowest value is 0 and the highest value is 1. These points constitutethe edge on the first index. Similarly, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the highest and lowest value for the points on thesecond index (e.g. y-axis) are 0 and 1. Coordinates of points having anextreme value in at least one(?) of the indexes would constitute a pointon the edge of the surface.

In some embodiments, the edges of the surface may not be perpendicularto each other. For example, the detected surface may be a triangle withlines that may not be perpendicular to the axis of video frame 102. Insuch cases, the media guidance application may first determine thefurthest most points of the surface as the vertices of the surface. Themedia guidance application may then determine points on lines that jointhe edges by comparing the vertices of the furthest most point of xindex for each y value and vice versa. For example, the surface may becomposed of points (5, 5), (0, 0), (6, 1), (2, 4). In this example, themedia guidance application may determine that the highest and lowestpoints on the first index (x-axis) are 0 and 6. For each value on thefirst index between 0 and 6, the media guidance application maydetermine the values of the second index that are highest and lowest,and therefore, constitute the edges of the surface. In this example,point (2,4) is part of the edge of the surface as it has the highestvalue of the second index (4) at the value 2 of the first index. Themedia guidance application may determine and store the determined edgesof a surface in the multidimensional array representing the surface ormay store the edge coordinates as part of the object of the surfaceclass. Surfaces of various shapes may have their boundaries representeddifferently. For example, for a circular surface, the media guidanceapplication may just store center coordinates and a radius.

In some embodiments, to determine whether surface 106 or 110 is suitablefor placing an advertisement, the media guidance application maydetermine the length of time for which surface 106 or 110 may remain onthe screen of the user device. The length of time may be determined interms of the number of video frames for which the surface is present. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a lengthof time for a surface by determining the number of seconds for which thesurface 106 or 110 is present on the screen of the user device. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine the number ofseconds based on the number of video frames being displayed on thescreen per second or using a different unit of video frame consumption.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve aplurality of frames that are scheduled to be displayed subsequent to thevideo frame. The plurality of frames retrieved may be based on the rateof consumption of the video frames. In some embodiments, the number ofvideo frames retrieved may represent the least amount for which asurface must be present in order to place an advertisement. The mediaguidance application may process the video frames subsequent to thecurrent frame (e.g., frame 102) that is about to be displayed on theuser device.

The media guidance application may compare colors associated withcoordinates of the edges in the data structure associated with surface106 or 110 with colors associated with corresponding coordinates withineach frame of the subsequent plurality of frames. For example, the mediaguidance application may extract colors of the previously determinededges of surface 106 or 110 in the video frames subsequent to videoframe 102 being displayed on the user device. In such examples, themedia guidance application may also determine colors of other points ofsurface 106 or 110 in video frames subsequent to the frames beingdisplayed on the user device.

The media guidance application may determine, for each video frame ofthe plurality of video frames and based on comparing the colorsassociated with coordinates of the edges in the data structure with thecolors associated with corresponding coordinates within each frame ofthe plurality of frames, whether the colors associated with eachcoordinate of the edges in the data structure match the colorsassociated with a respective coordinate associated with the video frame.Over the plurality of frames being processed, the media guidanceapplication may determine when the colors of the points corresponding tothe surface 106 or 110 change more than a threshold.

The media guidance application may add the advertisement to those videoframes where the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges inthe data structure match the colors associated with a respectivecoordinate associated with the video frame.

The media guidance application may refrain from adding the advertisementto those video frames where the colors associated with each coordinateof the edges in the data structure do not match the colors associatedwith a respective coordinate associated with the video frame.

For example, the media guidance application may determine points thatconstitute edges of a surface 106 and 110 and points that constitute thecenter of a surface. The media guidance application may determinewhether the color of the points at the center changes from the color ofthe points at the edges for more than a predetermined threshold.

The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to thevideo frame being displayed on the user device, to determine for howlong the color on the edges of the detected surface of “water” in thevideo frames matches the color of the points in the center of thesurface of “water”. The media guidance application may determine howlong the color on the edges of the detected surface is similar to thecolor of the points in the center by determining a number of frames forwhich the difference in color stays below a predetermined threshold. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that adifference in color may be below a threshold difference for 50 frames,which is greater than a predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upondetermining that the color difference between the points at the centerand the points at the edges is below a predetermined threshold ofdifference for a predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the mediaguidance application may insert the selected advertisement into theframe so that the advertisement appears on that surface of the “water.”In case the color difference is not below a particular threshold for theparticular predetermined threshold of time (e.g., 25 frames), the mediaguidance application may refrain from inserting the advertisement on thesurface as that may interrupt content important for the user.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5 . Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3 . Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5 .User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5 ). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5 , may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400.Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

System 500 may also include an advertisement source 524 coupled tocommunications network 514 via a communications path 526. Path 526 mayinclude any of the communication paths described above in connectionwith paths 508, 510, and 512. Advertisement source 524 may includeadvertisement logic to determine which advertisements to transmit tospecific users and under which circumstances. For example, a cableoperator may have the right to insert advertisements during specifictime slots on specific channels. Thus, advertisement source 524 maytransmit advertisements to users during those time slots. As anotherexample, advertisement source may target advertisements based on thedemographics of users known to view a particular show (e.g., teenagersviewing a reality show). As yet another example, advertisement sourcemay provide different advertisements depending on the location of theuser equipment viewing a media asset (e.g., east coast or west coast).

In some embodiments, advertisement source 524 may be configured tomaintain user information including advertisement-suitability scoresassociated with user in order to provide targeted advertising.Additionally or alternatively, a server associated with advertisementsource 524 may be configured to store raw information that may be usedto derive advertisement-suitability scores. In some embodiments,advertisement source 524 may transmit a request to another device forthe raw information and calculate the advertisement-suitability scores.Advertisement source 524 may update advertisement-suitability scores forspecific users (e.g., first subset, second subset, or third subset ofusers) and transmit an advertisement of the target product toappropriate users.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5 .

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4 .

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for dynamicallyinserting advertisements in a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 600 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed to control circuitry 404 bythe media guidance application). In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 600 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation toFIGS. 7-9 ).

Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 404 identifies aplurality of points in a video frame of the media asset. For example,the control circuitry may retrieve a video frame (e.g., video frame 102)from storage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry mayretrieve the video frame from a remote server (e.g., a server associatedwith media content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 604, control circuitry 404 detects a color associated with each pointof the plurality of points. For example, the control circuitry maydetermine the colors of the plurality of points, stored in storage 408,using a predetermined color encoding scheme. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may retrieve the colors associated with points from aremote server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 606, control circuitry 404 calculates a change in color between eachpoint of the plurality of points. For example, the control circuitry mayretrieve the color associated with each point in the plurality of pointsfrom storage 408. The colors may be stored in one of many encodingschemes. Processing circuitry 406 may compare the different componentcolors of each point in the plurality of points with other points in theplurality of points.

At 608, control circuitry 404 compares the change in color between eachpoint of the plurality of points within a threshold. The processingcircuitry 406 may compare the calculated difference in color between thefirst point and the second point with a predetermined threshold storedin storage 408.

At 610, control circuitry 404 identifies, based on the comparing, anarea within a frame that constitutes a surface. Based on the comparingof the color values of the plurality of points, the control circuitrymay use processing circuitry 406 to group points together based onmeasured differences in colors. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may store the grouped points in a data structure at storage408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may store the groupedpoints on a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media contentsource 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 612, control circuitry 404 selects an advertisement to be placed onthe surface. Based on the surface identified, the control circuitry mayuse processing circuitry 406 to select an appropriate advertisement tobe placed on the surface from storage 408. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may select an advertisement stored on a remote server(e.g., a server associated with media content source 516 and/or mediaguidance data source 518). In some embodiments, the control circuitrymay display the advertisement on video frame 102 displayed on display412.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for dynamicallyinserting advertisements in a media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 700 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed to control circuitry 404 bythe media guidance application). In addition, one or more steps ofprocess 700 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more stepsof any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation toFIGS. 6 and 8-9 ).

The process 700 begins at 702, when the control circuitry 404 selects afirst plurality of points in a video frame of a media asset. Forexample, the control circuitry may retrieve a video frame (e.g., videoframe 102) from storage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitrymay retrieve the video frame from a remote server (e.g., a serverassociated with media content source 516 and/or media guidance datasource 518).

At 704, the control circuitry 404 detects a color associated with eachpoint of the first plurality of points. In some embodiments, processingcircuitry 406 may retrieve the colors of the points in video frame 102from storage 408. The colors detected by the control circuitry maydepend on the objects present in video frame 102. In some embodiments,the control circuitry may retrieve the colors associated with pointsfrom a remote server (e.g., a server associated with media contentsource 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 706, the control circuitry 404 selects a first point in the firstplurality of points. The control circuitry may use processing circuitry406 to select a first point in the first plurality of points. Theselection of the point may be based on the iteration process. Forexample, the control circuitry may start the iteration with a top-rightcorner and proceed in a clockwise direction. It should be noted thatdifferent starting points may be used in this process.

At 708, the control circuitry 404 calculates a distance between thefirst point and other points in the first plurality of points. Forexample, the control circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 toselect a first point in a video frame (e.g. video frame 102) of a movie“Titanic” that depicts the ocean as part of the frame. Other points inthe first plurality of points may include points directly connected tothe first point or at a certain distance from the first point.

At 710, the control circuitry 404 selects a second plurality of pointsfrom the other points in the first plurality of points, wherein thesecond plurality of points comprises points within a threshold distanceof the first point. The control circuitry may use processing circuitry406 to determine points that are within a predetermined thresholddistance from the first point in a video frame (e.g. video frame 102).The control circuitry may store the second plurality of points atstorage 408. In some embodiments, control circuitry may store the secondplurality of points on a remote server (e.g., a server associated withmedia content source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 712, the control circuitry 404 calculates a change in color betweenthe first point and each point of the second plurality of points.Specifically, the control circuitry may use processing circuitry 406 tocalculate a change in color between the first point and each point ofthe set second plurality of points. In some embodiments, the controlcircuitry may retrieve colors associated with the second plurality ofpoints from storage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry mayretrieve the colors associated with the second plurality of points froma remote server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 714, the control circuitry 404 compares the calculated change incolor between the selected point and each point in the set of pointswith a threshold color change. In some embodiments, the controlcircuitry may retrieve a threshold color change from storage 408. Insome embodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the threshold colorchange from a remote server (e.g., a server associated with mediacontent source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 716, the control circuitry 404 generates, based on the comparing, asubset of points that are within the threshold color change. The controlcircuitry may group together the points that are within a predeterminedthreshold color change. Particularly, the control circuitry may useprocessing circuitry 406 to generate, based on the comparing, a subsetof points that are within the threshold color change. In someembodiments, the control circuitry may save the grouped points atstorage 408. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may save thegrouped points at a remote server (e.g., a server associated with mediacontent source 516 and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 718, the control circuitry 404 generates, based on the subset ofpoints, a data structure representing a surface. Particularly, thecontrol circuitry may generate, based on the subset of points, a datastructure representing a surface. For example, the processing circuitry406 may associate the grouped together points in the second plurality ofpoints to represent a surface. The data structure may be of the form ofmultidimensional array or an object of a defined class surface. In someembodiments, the control circuitry may store the data structurerepresenting the surface in storage 408. In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may retrieve the advertisement from a remote server(e.g., a server associated with media content source 516 and/or mediaguidance data source 518).

At 720, the control circuitry 404 selects, based on the data structure,an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements for display with thevideo frame. Particularly, the control circuitry may select, based onthe data structure representing the surface, an advertisement of aplurality of advertisements for display with the video frame. Forexample, the processing circuitry 406 may determine, from a set ofadvertisements, the most suitable advertisement to be placed on thedetermined surface. In some embodiments, control circuitry may retrieveselect advertisements from advertisements stored in storage 408 todetermine the most appropriate advertisement to be placed. In someembodiments, the control circuitry may retrieve the advertisement from aremote server (e.g., a server associated with media content source 516and/or media guidance data source 518).

At 722, the control circuitry 404 generates for display theadvertisement so that it appears on the surface. For example, theprocessing circuitry 406 may display the selected advertisement on anocean surface determined in video frame 102 of the movie “Titanic” bythe processing circuitry 406 when the particular frame is displayed onthe screen of the user device. For example, the processing circuitry 406may generate for display the advertisement with the ship on the ocean'ssurface 110 in video frame 108. In some embodiments, the controlcircuitry may display the advertisement on video frame 102 displayed ondisplay 412.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining atype of surface in a video frame of a media asset and displaying anadvertisement based on the determined type of surface, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 800 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed to control circuitry404 by the media guidance application). In addition, one or more stepsof process 800 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described in relationto FIGS. 6, 7, and 9 ).

Process 800 begins at 802, where control circuitry 404 detects a colorassociated with each surface of a plurality of surfaces in a videoframe. The color of each surface is detected based on the color of eachof the points that comprise the data structure of the surface. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect a color associatedwith surface 110 of video frame 108 based on the color of the pointsthat constitute the surface. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may detect a range of colors in the surface based on thecolors associated with various points of surface 110 in video frame 108.

At 804, the control circuitry 804 compares each detected color of eachsurface to a color range of surfaces. The media guidance applicationcompares the detected color or the range of detected colors to a colorrange of surfaces. Each color in the color range may be associated witha particular surface. For example, the color sky blue may be associatedwith the sky and the colors dark and navy blue may be associated withthe water.

At decision block 806, the control circuitry 404 determines whetherthere is a surface corresponding to the detected color. The mediaguidance application may search the color ranges to determine if thecolor associated with the surface corresponds to a color in the colorrange of surfaces. In case the color of the surface corresponds to acolor in the color range, control circuitry 404 proceeds to 810 todetect a shape associated with the surface. In case the color of thesurface does not correspond to a color in the color range of surfaces,the control circuitry 404 proceeds to 802 to detect a different colorassociated with a different surface part of video frame 102.

At 810, control circuitry 404 detects a shape associated with thesurface. The media guidance application may determine whether surface110 is associated with a shape. For example, the media guidanceapplication may detect the shape of waves associated with surface 110 ofvideo frame 108.

At 812, the control circuitry 404 compares the detected shape of thesurface to a shape range of surfaces. The media guidance applicationcompares the shape of the waves of surface 110 in video frame 108 to arange of shapes of various surfaces.

At 814, the control circuitry 404 determines a type of the surface basedon the detected color and shape. The media guidance applicationdetermines that surface 110, having the shape of waves and a dark bluecolor is a surface of a water body (e.g. ocean) in video frame 108.

At 816, the control circuitry 404 retrieves advertisements based on thesurface. Based on determining that surface 110 or video frame 108 is awater body (e.g. ocean), the media guidance application may extract anadvertisement from the set of available advertisements that may beassociated with water. Some examples of such an advertisement may berelated to water-skiing, jet-skiing, snorkeling, cruises, water parks,etc.

At decision block 818, the control circuitry 404 determines whetherthere is an object displayed on the surface. The media guidanceapplication may determine if the surface of the water may have an objectassociated with it. For example, the surface of water may have an objectof a ship, a boat, an aquatic animal or other objects of the like. Incase the media guidance application detects an object on detectedsurface 110 in video frame 108, the media guidance application proceedsto 820 to display the selected advertisement on the detected object. Incase the media guidance application does not determine the presence ofan object on the surface, the media guidance application displays theselected advertisement on surface 110 in video frame 108.

At 820, the control circuitry 404 displays the retrieved advertisementin the object. The media guidance application may display the selectedadvertisement on the object associated with surface 110 of video frame108. For example, the media guidance application may display theselected advertisement of snorkeling from the set of availableadvertisements on an object of an aquatic animal that may be associatedwith surface 110 of video frame 108.

At 822, the control circuitry 404 displays the retrieved advertisementon the surface. The media guidance application may display the selectedadvertisement of snorkeling, from a list of available advertisements, onthe surface of the surface 110 in video frame 108 when the mediaguidance application may determine that an object is not associated withsurface 110.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether to add advertisements to video frames of a media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 900 may beexecuted by control circuitry 404 (e.g. in a manner instructed tocontrol circuitry 404 by the media guidance application). Controlcircuitry 404 may be part of the remote server being separated from theuser equipment device by way of communication network 514. In addition,one or more steps of process 900 may be incorporated into or combinedwith one or more steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., asdescribed in relation to FIGS. 6-8 ).

Process 900 begins at 902, where control circuitry 404 comparescoordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset of pointswith coordinates of other points with the subset of points. The mediaguidance application compares the coordinates of points that comprisesurface 110 of video frame 108. The points representing the surface maybe stored in a data structure like a multidimensional array or an objectof the class surface.

At 904, the control circuitry 404 determines, based on comparing thecoordinates within the video frame of each point of the subset of pointswith the coordinates of other points with the subset of points, theedges of the surface. Based on the comparing, the media guidanceapplication may determine the points in the surface that constitute theedges of the surface. The points constituting the edges may be storedseparately in the multidimensional array data structure of surface 110of video frame 108.

At 906, the control circuitry 404 retrieves a plurality of frames thatare scheduled to be displayed subsequent to the video frame. Forexample, the media guidance application may process frames of a movie“Titanic”, subsequent to the current frame that is about to be displayedon the user device.

At 908, the control circuitry 404 compares colors associated withcoordinates of the edges in the data structure with colors associatedwith corresponding cording within each of the plurality of frames.

At decision block 910, the control circuitry 404 determines whether thecolors associated with each coordinate of the edges in the datastructure match the colors associated with a respective coordinateassociated with the video frame.

At 912, the control circuitry 404 adds the advertisement to those frameswhere the colors associated with each coordinate of the edges in thedata structure match the colors associated with a respective coordinateassociated with the video frame.

At 914, the control circuitry 404 refrains from adding the advertisementto those frames where the colors associated with each coordinate of theedges in the data structure do not match the colors associated with arespective coordinate associated with video frame 102.

For example, the media guidance application may determine points thatconstitute edges of a surface 110 of video frame 108, and points thatconstitute the center of a surface 110 of video frame 108. The mediaguidance application may determine whether the color of the points atthe center changes from the color of the points at the edges for morethan a predetermined threshold.

The media guidance application may analyze frames, subsequent to videoframe 108 being displayed on the user device, to determine for how longthe color on the edges of the detected surface of “water” in the videoframes matches the color of the points in the center of the surface of“water”. The media guidance application may determine how long the coloron the edges of the detected surface is similar to the color of thepoints in the center by determining a number of frames for which thedifference in color stays below a predetermined threshold. In someexamples, the media guidance application may determine that a differencein color may be below a threshold difference for 50 frames, which isgreater than a predetermined threshold of 25 frames. Upon determiningthat the color difference between the points at the center and thepoints at the edges is below a predetermined threshold of difference fora predetermined threshold of time (25 frames), the media guidanceapplication may insert the selected advertisement on that surface of the“water” in frames of the movie “Titanic”. In case the color differenceis not below a particular threshold for the particular predeterminedthreshold of time (25 frames), the media guidance application mayrefrain from inserting the advertisement on the surface as that mayinterrupt content important for the user.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIGS. 6-9 may beused with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, thedescriptions described in relation to the algorithm of FIGS. 6-9 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, in some embodiments, several instances ofa variable may be evaluated in parallel using multiple logical processorthreads or the algorithm may be enhanced by incorporating branchprediction. Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of FIGS.6-9 may be implemented on a combination of appropriately configuredsoftware and hardware and that any of the devices or equipment discussedin relation to FIGS. 4-5 could be used to implement one or more portionsof the process.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted that the systems and/or methods described above may be appliedto, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to“convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose of providingcontext to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure and does not formany admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

1-51. (canceled)
 52. A method comprising: identifying one or more videoframes in a video of a media asset; determining, from the one or morevideo frames, a plurality of points that constitutes a surface displayedin the one or more video frames of the video; generating a datastructure representing the surface displayed in the one or more videoframes; determining a type associated with the surface; comparing thetype associated with the surface with metadata associated with one ormore advertisements; selecting, based on the data structure and the typeassociated with the surface, an advertisement for display in the video;and modifying the data structure to include an indicator for displayingthe advertisement on the surface during display of the one or more videoframes comprising the surface in the video.
 53. The method of claim 52,further comprising generating, based on the modified data structure, fordisplay the advertisement overlaying the surface in the video.
 54. Themethod of claim 52, wherein the plurality of points is within athreshold distance of a first point of the plurality of points.
 55. Themethod of claim 52, further comprising: detecting a color valueassociated with a first point of the plurality of points; calculating achange in the color value between the first point and each point of theplurality of points; and determining, based on the calculating, that theplurality of points is within a threshold color value change of thefirst point.
 56. The method of claim 52, wherein the advertisement isselected based on the comparing the type with the metadata associatedwith the one or more advertisements.
 57. The method of claim 52, whereinthe type indicates a word associated with the surface, and whereinselecting, based on the data structure and the type associated with thesurface, the advertisement for display in the video comprises:identifying, from the metadata, advertisement content related to theword; and selecting the advertisement based on the advertisement contentrelated to the word.
 58. The method of claim 52, wherein the typeassociated with the surface is determined based on color ranges andshapes for known surfaces.
 59. The method of claim 52, furthercomprising: comparing coordinates of each point of the plurality ofpoints with coordinates of other points with the plurality of points;determining, based on comparing the coordinates of each point of theplurality of points with the coordinates of other points with theplurality of points, a representation of a boundary of the surface; andstoring coordinates of the representation of the boundary of the surfacein the data structure.
 60. The method of claim 59, further comprising:retrieving a plurality of video frames to be displayed in the video;comparing colors associated with the coordinates of the representationin the data structure with colors associated with correspondingcoordinates within each video frame of the plurality of video frames;determining first video frames of the plurality of video frames, eachfirst video frame having the colors associated with the correspondingcoordinates that match the colors associated with the coordinates of therepresentation in the data structure; determining second video frames ofthe plurality of video frames, each second video having the colorsassociated with the corresponding coordinates not matching the colorsassociated with the coordinates of the representation in the datastructure; adding the advertisement to the first video frames; andrefraining from adding the advertisement to the second video frames. 61.The method of claim 52, further comprising: for each video frame of theone or more video frames: dividing the video frame into a plurality ofconcentric circular regions having progressively larger radii; andidentifying the plurality of points from one or more points within or ona perimeter of the concentric circular regions.
 62. A system comprising:display circuitry configured to display a video of a media asset; andcontrol circuitry configured to: identify one or more video frames inthe video of the media asset; determine, from the one or more videoframes, a plurality of points that constitutes a surface displayed inthe one or more video frames of the video; generate a data structurerepresenting the surface displayed in the one or more video frames;determine a type associated with the surface; compare the typeassociated with the surface with metadata associated with one or moreadvertisements; select, based on the data structure and the typeassociated with the surface, an advertisement for display in the video;and modify the data structure to include an indicator for displaying theadvertisement on the surface during display of the one or more videoframes comprising the surface in the video.
 63. The system of claim 62,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to generate, basedon the modified data structure, for display the advertisement overlayingthe surface in the video.
 64. The system of claim 62, wherein theplurality of points is within a threshold distance of a first point ofthe plurality of points.
 65. The system of claim 62, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: detect a color value associated witha first point of the plurality of points; calculate a change in thecolor value between the first point and each point of the plurality ofpoints; and determine, based on calculating the change, that theplurality of points is within a threshold color value change of thefirst point.
 66. The system of claim 62, wherein the control circuitryis configured to select the advertisement based on comparing the typewith the metadata associated with the one or more advertisements. 67.The system of claim 62, wherein the type indicates a word associatedwith the surface, and wherein the control circuitry, when selecting theadvertisement for display in the video, is configured to: identify, fromthe metadata, advertisement content related to the word; and select theadvertisement based on the advertisement content related to the word.68. The system of claim 62, wherein the control circuitry is configuredto determine the type associated with the surface based on color rangesand shapes for known surfaces.
 69. The system of claim 62, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured to: compare coordinates of eachpoint of the plurality of points with coordinates of other points withthe plurality of points; determine, based on comparing the coordinatesof each point of the plurality of points with the coordinates of otherpoints with the plurality of points, a representation of a boundary ofthe surface; and store coordinates of the representation of the boundaryof the surface in the data structure.
 70. The system of claim 69,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: retrieve aplurality of video frames to be displayed in the video; compare colorsassociated with the coordinates of the representation in the datastructure with colors associated with corresponding coordinates withineach video frame of the plurality of video frames; determine first videoframes of the plurality of video frames, each first video frame havingthe colors associated with the corresponding coordinates that match thecolors associated with the coordinates of the representation in the datastructure; determine second video frames of the plurality of videoframes, each second video having the colors associated with thecorresponding coordinates not matching the colors associated with thecoordinates of the representation in the data structure; add theadvertisement to the first video frames; and refrain from adding theadvertisement to the second video frames.
 71. The system of claim 62,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: for each videoframe of the one or more video frames: divide the video frame into aplurality of concentric circular regions having progressively largerradii; and identify the plurality of points from one or more pointswithin or on a perimeter of the concentric circular regions.